Underground drainage scheme will take off in March
Coimbatore Corporation Commissioner P. Muthuveeran (right) at the council meeting on Monday.Works under the Rs.377-crore underground drainage scheme for a major part of the city will take off in March, Coimbatore Corporation Commissioner P. Muthuveeran told the Council on Monday.When councillors asked at what stage the project was, he said the overall scheme had been cleared by the Central Government under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. But, six sub-schemes were awaiting technical clearance. (The Central Government will provide 50 per cent of the project cost as grants. While the State Government will provide 20 per cent grant or interest-free loan, the Corporation will meet the rest of the cost.) All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) member P. Rajkumar wanted to know from Mayor R. Venkatachalam the progress of the mission schemes cleared by the Central Government. K. Purushothaman of the Communist Party of India specifically asked for the position of the sewer scheme. He asked: “What is happening to the scheme, after Local Administration Minister M.K. Stalin launched it last month (November 12)?” The members said that there was no action on the ground, while it was made to appear as though the scheme had taken off. The Commissioner said the Centre had approved the scheme on June 28.
Initially, the scheme was drawn up at an outlay of Rs.440 crore. A technical sanction committee of the Centre scaled down the cost to Rs.377 crore after removing some of the components of the scheme. Now, the scheme had to be implemented as six components. And, individual plans had to be submitted for each of them.For instance, the setting up of six sewage treatment plants would form one component. “We need to give correct estimates for each of these. Specific factors need to be studied,” he said. One of them was soil condition.
The cost of digging would vary with the area because in some places the soil might be rocky. A national-level technical committee was scrutinising these and approval was expected soon. After this, tenders would be invited. A month’s time should be given for competent implementing agencies to submit bids. Another 20 days would go for scrutinising them. After the other mandatory procedures, the scheme could take off in March, he said.
